Silent Hearts
by OhMyGodWhyDidIWriteThis
Summary: What is it that Riku must remember in Silent Hill?
1. Chapter 1

AN: I do not own Silent Hill nor do I own Kingdom Hearts. Konami, Disney, and Square Enix hold all copyrights.

The _idea_ behind this was something that originated with AStyleAllMyOwn, and the outline was co-written with her for a movie we were going to create. I've adapted that and expanded it into this. Multi-chaptered, though I can't tell you how long it's going to be.

* * *

Thick fog was rolling all around him, blinding him if he tried to see anything past a foot in any direction. Claustrophobic fingers spider-danced up his spine but he swallowed back the urge to start screaming and swearing and falling and crying. There was something he needed to do here, something he needed to find, and time was running thin.

It was rolling thick and blinding and all around him he could hear things creeping and crawling, scraping against the wood and the asphalt just out of sight and touch. It made the panic turn into a living creature in his throat and he stopped, all his focus now on breathing, in and out, in and out, _steady…_

"Hello?" In the heavy, dense air his voice barely carried. Whatever sound got through was immediately swallowed up by a sudden cacophony by the skittering beasts and now he did drop now, knees bashing against the broken road as his hands clutched against his ears to block out the blistering noise. It cut through him, searing him of all thoughts, and then just as quickly went silent.

He lowered his hands slowly, lifting his head to gaze around. The fog was clearing and, as he got to his feet, the thought that he could _find it_ struck him with such force it was almost absurd. Whatever he was looking for, there was nothing stopping him now.

Except…

Except he could no longer remember.

"I'm sorry…" She smiled sadly at him, white dress fluttering with stains of red, and he buried his head in his hands before he cried.

-----

The day was just starting, bright and clear, with traces of sunlight peaking through the edges of the blinds. A teen, stuck in the awkward years between adolescence and adulthood, rolled over in defense, but the blinking red lights of the alarm clock shined brightly in his face. He groaned, giving up, and allowed turquoise-green eyes to slide open and stare at the numbers. "Eight-thirty?" he groused, closing his eyes again and burying his face in his pillow. "'ay too _early…_"

Something warm and sweet and buttery wafted up into the room, prompting the man to lift his head from the pillow. Silver-blond locks fell to frame his face, clashing terribly with the light color of his skin. It made him appear 'pale', washed out; that he chose to dress in unflattering blacks and yellows did little to add to this perception.

_I guess they're already up_, he thought, a reluctant smile forcing him out of bed. He yawned, stretched, and ran a hand through the ruffled mess that made up his hair before padding over to the adjoining bathroom. The three rooms in the quaint little bed and breakfast that they were staying in for the week had come with the caveat of only two bathrooms. Naturally, Kairi had snagged one for herself, proclaiming, and rightly so, that as the lone girl she needed a bathroom to herself. It meant they needed to share, but they had practically grown up together, spending sleepless nights up late telling ghost stories while trying to keep the laughter down so their mothers didn't come in and tell them it was past their bedtime. A bathroom wasn't something that was too much to share now.

Cold linoleum bit against his feet for a moment and Riku shivered, rubbing his arms as he flicked the lights on. It buzzed as it cast a yellowed haze over the surprisingly large room. He was fairly certain a person could sleep comfortably in the tub, and another could take up residence on the floor _without_ worrying about bumping into the toilet or the sink during the night. "You figure they would have made two separate rooms instead of one giant one," he mused, grinning at the other door. "Ah, well."

Toothbrush in hand, he reached for the medicine cabinet door when a sudden flash of _something_ caused him to hesitate and pause, hand hovering inches away from the glass grove. The cheery, homey feeling vanished, leaving behind the sensation of being watched. Every creak was a footstep, every odd groan of the house was someone pacing in the next room, just _waiting for him…_"Oh, Riku, you paranoid _idiot._" He snorted, yanking the door open with far more force than was necessary, grabbed the half-empty tube of toothpaste, and slammed it shut.

Their eyes meet in the mirror, aquamarine and deep-sea blue. She was shorter, and standing behind him made her even more so, but somehow she still managed to appear eye-level. Blond hair cascading so neatly to curl over her shoulder, against her smooth neck, her skin a healthy, glowing shade that offset the perfect white of her dress. Except… for the splattered red the trailed down her torso, a color that couldn't be anything other than what it _was_, something that his mind stubbornly refused to acknowledge.

Riku jumped, banging his knee against the sink, and spun about. There was no one there. No one was in the mirror when he glanced back in it, and after a moment of reflection he started to brush his teeth, pushing the dubious doubts he had about the encounter away.

"When is he going to get up?"

"It's barely nine, why are _we_ even up?"

"Because we're idiotic and we don't know the meaning of the word 'relax'?"

"Touché, touché…"

Forgoing his pajama tops and bottoms for a pair of well-worn jeans and an orange t-shirt with the logo 'anti-hero' scrawled on it, Riku bounded down the stairs to be greeted by the strains of conversation coming from his two friends. He grinned, sniffing at the scent of the fresh baked-goods, and pushed open the door that led into the kitchen.

Kairi and Roxas were both sitting at the table, arguing over a stack of pancakes. She was dressed in a light-tan skirt that edged her knees and a dark-blue button up shirt, with white slip-ons lying next to her bare feet. He wore black jeans and a red shirt with white edging, a logo for a local band slapped on the front in fading silk-screen. The sound of his feet padding across the hardwood floor alerted both of them to his presence and they paused in their conversation, Roxas taking the moment to stab at another pancake and Kairi grinning at him.

"Look who finally decided to join us? Major case of bed-head, don't ya think?" Reflexively Riku reached up before making a face at her and she grinned back, gesturing for him to take a seat. "Surprised to see you up so early."

"So am I." A vaguely unsettled feeling crept up through his stomach as brief memories of something wormed through his mind, but Riku smiled, sitting next to the grinning red-head. Roxas arched a brow, content with massacring his plate of syrup and cake. "Where's the, um, Mrs. Townsend? You guys didn't make this on your _own_, did you?" Pancakes, maybe, but not the bacon and Kairi wasn't the type to go rooting through other people's fridges for food. Roxas, maybe, but he also didn't have the ability the boil an egg.

"She said she had to go run a few errands and that we should leave enough for you, but that's all. Apparently we're the only guests staying here right now." Making a small shrug with one shoulder, Roxas grabbed for the jug of orange juice on the table, pouring himself a glass. "I guess mid-October isn't a popular time for vacationing."

"Just means that there's more for us!" Kairi said, though Riku couldn't quite share in with her glee.

"Yeah, cause normal people are stuck at their jobs right now, working the nine to five, or they're _in school_," he said, emphasizing the last part. She waved a hand at him, snagging a piece of bacon while she did so.

"We've been over this before, haven't we?" Riku opened his mouth to argue but Kairi shook her head. "We always talked about going on this trip together, and we all talked to all of our professors, took our tests early, we're all passing with flying colors right now. There's no reason _not too_ and it's only for a few days. You're just worrying for the sake of worrying."

"But… I mean, we're gone for… things could _happen_," he argued, knowing full well her point was valid. Kairi simply rolled her eyes and looked at Roxas, who just shrugged.

"You already paid. You might as well eat the free food," he advised. Riku snorted and Kairi made a face.

"If you leave any _left_ for us to eat, you mean?" she snapped.

"Hey, he's here now. I don't have to save him any anymore; it's his own fault if he doesn't get any."

"I don't… I don't think that's… that's not how it _works._"

Riku smiled, feeling a sense of relief that the focus of the conversation had momentarily been diverted from him. Snagging one of the empty glasses, he stood up and headed over to the sink. "So since we're here in what is definitely not going to be tourist season, what's there to do? Just sit around in a homey, but insanely creepy, rooms all day long being fat and lazy?"

"You'd have to be able to get some of the food first to be _fat_…"

"I get the _hint_ Kairi, all right?"

The pressure from the sink was surprisingly strong, catching him off guard, but in a moment Riku had a full cup of water. Turning the faucet off, he turned and leaned back into the corner, taking a sip as he looked over both of them. Kairi finished off her strip of bacon while nodding and reaching for a folded up map on the table. "This place doesn't exactly have a 'tourist season'. More people are here during the summer, but a lot of the local haunts stay open year-round cause even, well, the locals like to visit them. There's a reason this place is the 'Scariest Place on Earth.' I think the old hospital should be one of our first visits."

Roxas rolled his eyes and Riku smiled tiredly as Kairi looked between the two of them, an expression of shock and dismay on her face. "Oh, come on, are you serious? We're in _Silent Hill_, are you really going to try to pull the 'I don't believe in ghosts' card now?"

A pounding headache was beginning to form behind his eyes and Riku took another drink, this time practically draining the cup, in an effort to ignore it. The bickering between the two was so damn _predictable_; he didn't even want to _be_ here, why was everyone expecting an answer from _him_ now? "Well, I think," he said slowly, taking a few steps back toward them.

The headache suddenly reared itself head and flashed its teeth and claws, tearing the front of his head with sharp stabbing pains. There wasn't even time for him to cry out when the glass slipped from his hand, shattering by his feet in a puddle of water. Kairi was on her feet in an instant, the slip-ons living up to their name as she rushed over to him. It took Roxas a moment longer; Riku could see the moment of hesitation on the blonde's face before he collapsed to his knees, holding his head in agony.

_Do you remember what happened three years ago?_

Everything suddenly stopped – the world fell silent as it held its breath, waiting for his response. Riku lifted his head, staring up at the bloodied face of the blond-haired girl, noting that the water on the floor was no longer clear and that he was not bleeding.

"I was sixteen three years ago," he said, staring at her in confusion. She smiled, sad and more than a little frightened.

_What happened three years ago?_

"Riku, Riku, are you all right?" Kairi was kneeling in the puddle of blood, the edge of her skirt stained pink, and the words to tell her were right on the tip of his tongue, except his mouth was no longer listening to anything his brain was telling it.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I do not own Silent Hill nor do I own Kingdom Hearts. Konami, Disney, and Square Enix hold all copyrights.

The _idea_ behind this was something that originated with A Style All My Own, and the outline was co-written with her for a movie we were going to create. I've adapted that and expanded it into this. Multi-chaptered, though I can't tell you how long it's going to be.

* * *

When light returned the first thing Riku noticed was that it was surprisingly dark. The kitchen – in fact, the entire house – had been open and bright, almost to the point of being sickeningly cheerful, which had proven to be a concern for those who liked to sleep in.

Ignoring the lack of illumination the silver-haired man lifted himself up from his slumped-over position, shifting his legs so that he was more or less sitting. The ground felt far colder than it should have and, even with the dim light he had to work with, Riku could see that it was red-painted cement he was sitting on, not hardwood floor. "What…" The walls were made of some sort of badly stained cracked mortar brick that was probably once white, and underneath the pealing paint he could see that the floor was originally grey. _Why paint a cement floor?_

"I must be in the basement," he hissed out, climbing unsteadily to his feet. Patting the front of his pants off, he paused again with another unpleasant realization. Before he was dressed, well, _normally_ – jeans and a t-shirt, sneakers to follow if the decision to leave the house was ever made. Now… _jeans_, yes, though of a darker blue with sewn on light blue pockets. For a shirt he had a black vest, zipped, with a yellow vest, open, on top. A studded belt and arm warmer ( for one arm only ) completed the fashion ensemble. "… dragged into the basement _and_ stripped?" _Oh, god…_ "Roxas! Kairi!"

There was a set of wooden stairs that led, he presumed, back to the kitchen. Feeling something akin to rage amidst his embarrassment Riku stomped up them, slamming the door at the top open. "I swear to _god_ I am going to… make you… guys…?"

The door swung open with a resounding 'crack', bouncing back against the wall, and he stood for a moment to take in the sight before him. Caution overrode all other emotions – the embarrassment had all but disappeared now – as he crept up the final step and surveyed what had been, once upon a time, a kitchen.

A liberal layer of dust coated the entire room. Dishes were stacked high in the sink and a smell of rot was oozing from them, causing him to wrinkle his nose and step hastily away and toward the table. Three plates were set out, right where Kairi, Roxas, and he had been sitting, but there was no sign that anyone had even been there. There was no sign that anyone had ever been in this place in the last several _years_, really; the windows were caked so thick with grime it was hard to see anything.

"I don't understand…" As his eyes scanned the table Riku caught sight of a patch of white. He reached out, expecting his fingers to touch the table, and instead rubbing against paper. _The map?_ With a frown he picked it up, slowly unfolding it. That meant that they _had_ been here earlier, if Kairi's map was here. But, obviously, they _hadn't_…

Something fell from inside it as he opened it, fluttering to the floor. Slipping the map into his pocket, he bent down to pick it up and froze, fingertips closing about the edges of what was a photograph. It was of the three of them, Kairi, Roxas and him. They were posed together, Roxas in the middle with his arms slung around both of them. He could remember when the picture was taken, sometime last year to commemorate Riku's graduation. Feeling slightly sick, he picked it up, holding it gingerly as he straightened and examined it.

White and black and red in the shape of a person flashed by the blacked-out windows. Tearing his eyes away from the picture, Riku clenched his hand around it before jamming it into his pocket as well and bolting. There was a backdoor in the kitchen, it led out near where those windows were, he could catch up with whomever that person was, he just needed to…

An expression of bewilderment crossed his face when he stepped outside into the backyard of a completely _separate_ house. Lost, and more than a little frustrated, Riku turned around to go back inside only to see that the door he had just come out from was not only gone, but the entire house was _missing_. Instead of standing in the backyard of the bed and breakfast like he anticipated, he was now standing on a street corner, a lonely, empty street corner that showed no other signs of life.

"What-? Okay, whatever's going- will- could you stop _messing_ with me for a moment?!" His voice was muffled by the fog that was pooling around his legs and he glanced down nervously, vague memories of a half-forgotten nightmare causing unease to stir.

"I… I'm sorry?"

Feeling his face starting to turn an impressive shade of red, Riku turned quickly to see a young man walking slowly – _cautiously_ if he didn't know any better – out of the mist toward him, head tilted slightly in confusion. He was short, coming up a good head below him, with brown hair in a style of perpetual bed-head. Like himself, the man was dressed in the most _ridiculous _clothing – blue jeans or shorts with black waders overtop, complete with yellow straps, and a blue and red t-shirt beneath a too-small black hooded shirt. Motorcycle gloves and red pouches completed the look.

"Oh, no, I… wasn't talking to you," Riku mumbled. "I'm sorry, I'm just… completely lost here."

"Me too," the other man sympathized, his expression becoming far more trusting now that Riku was no longer shouting at unseen forces. "I've been trying to find my way, but I can't seem to remember what it was."

The statement struck Riku as completely _odd_, which much have shown on his face, because the stranger smiled then and offered his hand. "My name is Sora."

"Oh." He stared at it for a moment before taking it, shaking it awkwardly. "I'm Riku. I'm looking for my friends."

"Do you need any help? I'm not really having much luck on my own end."

"No…" Riku shook his head, feeling slightly guilty about declining the offer from Sora. "There's two of them, though. If you see them, could you let them know? One's about your height, female, with bright red hair. The other one's a little taller, looks kind of like you but with blond hair." Sora reached up, idly pulling at a particularly stubborn section of hair, and Riku smiled despite himself. "Well, no, okay, he's not _quite_ as bad as that…

"Here." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the slightly crumpled photograph, frowning when his hand caught on something else. _What…? The map! _He handed it to Sora, allowing him to see Kairi and Roxas for himself. "Let them know I'm trying to find them. Maybe they'll know what just happened."

"All right. If I find them, though, where should I tell them you are? You even know your way around this place?"

The answer to that question was a resounding 'no', and the fog was doing _nothing_ to help with his sense of orientation; Riku could see hardly more than several feet out in any direction before everything faded into the same shade of grey. "Well, no, but…" He slipped out the map. "I think we're supposed to be on Matheson street-"

"Yeah, the intersection of Levin and Matheson is back there." Sora pointed and Riku turned, looking confused. Where they were staying, it had been… but there was no _building_ there now.

"… right." Ignoring the impossible for now, he glanced at the map, trying to discern where the easiest meeting area would be when something caught his eye. Unfolding the map further, Riku noticed a bright red circle hastily scrawled around Alchemilla Hospital. _She said she wanted to visit the old hospital…_ "Alchemilla hospital, the one that's supposed to be abandoned. We'll meet there."

"Whoa, really?" Sora blinked, eyes widening slightly. "_That's_ where you want me to…? Couldn't you pick a slightly less, I don't know… I mean, the butcher's shop would probably be a little safer." Riku arched a brow and Sora grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, but haven't you heard the stories about that place? And this place, I mean… it's kind of not entirely on the down low to begin with."

"Right." Taking the picture back from Sora, Riku slipped it back inside the map before folding it back up and slipped it back inside his pocket. "I'll take my chances. Good luck with… you know, finding whatever it is you're looking for."

"You too."

There was an awkward moment between them before Riku made a stiff wave that bordered on a salute and started off down Matheson toward Levin. From what he gathered from the map he needed to turn off at Levin until he reached Bloch and follow that straight into the old Industrial District, into what was now where all the 'tourist traps' were. Sora waited a moment longer before nodding, mumbling a curt 'right' under his breath, and taking off in the other direction.

* * *

Riku really had to hand it to her – Kairi had managed to pick the _creepiest goddamn town _on the face of the earth to vacation in.

And that was not a compliment, no matter how much it sounded like one.

He walked slowly down the street, eyes roving along the empty sidewalk to try to catch sight of the creatures he knew had to be there. Off in the distant, buried deep within the fog where he couldn't see, _things_ crept and crawled and slithered against the ground, beating a rhythm that Riku tried to keep in pace with. Shivering for reasons that hardly had to do with temperature he hugged himself, glancing around at the edges of the fog to peer at the unseen shapes that shifted within.

_Just relax, you should be almost there._ He was on Crichton now; Koontz was supposed to be just up ahead and the hospital was the first building there.

Something _loud_ scrapped on the ground behind him and Riku froze, breath caught in his throat as he stared back for one moment before turning his slowly, shambling walk into a brisk jog. The endless row of sidewalk melted away, forming a path toward the hospital, and he turned abruptly, running to the entrance.

Riku didn't get far, though. The hospital was surrounded by a stone wall that ended on either side of the concrete walk-way and a rusted chain-link fence was pulled across, locking him out. He threaded his fingers through the loops, banging on it for a moment and looking up to gauge its height – _is it worth climbing?_ – when something loud and heavy slammed into the fence next to him, causing him to tear away.

At first he thought it was a dog, until he realized that the reason the animal, creature, was pink was not because it was hairless but because it was skinless – bits of itself were stuck to the fence where it had tried to plow through. Bright red veins accented the oozing pink flesh that was liberally dappled with flecks of black and green. Riku suspected that might have been from rot; it was giving off a truly horrendous smell.

Its face was the most horrifying aspect of it. The entire thing seemed to have been rubbed away, leaving being a blank mass that jerked through the air blindly as it shambled toward him. Riku stumbled back, rattling the fence, and a line along its jaw slowly tore open as it began to snarl at him.

_Oh. Fffuu…_The snarl turned into the sickest bark Riku had ever heard before the dog lunged at him, jaws snapped shut a hair's breadth away from his leg. Turning on his heel, he ran as the awful creature took off after him. It stumbled, falling and dragging its head against the pavement before regaining its balance and loping after him, growling all the while.

Its jaws closed around the fabric of his pants and Riku stumbled, falling to the ground as it pulled back, heading tossing back and forth as it dragged him back. Pain shot through his leg as it pressed a paw down on it. With a burst of adrenaline he pulled himself up, pants ripping in the dog's jaw, and bolted forward.

There was a store next to the hospital and as he fumbled with the door it swung open. Nearly sobbing from relief he burst inside, slamming the door shut and leaning back against it, gritting his teeth as he felt it shudder as the dog slammed against it. _Oh please…_He reached back, locking the door, and stepped away.

For a moment or two the dog continued to jump against it but the pounding soon stopped. Breathing a sigh of relief, Riku allowed himself to relax slightly before looking around the small store.

There was a row of refrigerated beverages against a wall and a few aisles of medicinal aids. At the back was a white counter with the sign 'prescription pick-up' and 'prescription drop-off' overhead. _I must be in a pharmacy…_It was dusty but the lights were still on and there was a hum coming from the coolers.

Rubbing his shoulder slightly, he walked over to the coolers and yanked them open, looking inside. Bottles of water and cola were inside, along with some store-brand energy drinks. Grabbing one of those, he allowed the door to slam shut as he popped it open and chugged a liberal amount, grimacing at the taste. "Ugh. Geeze, I think battery-acid would taste better." Feeling slightly more recharged he glanced down to see what damage had been done.

The dog had torn the back of his pants open and there were a few bleeding scratches, but it didn't look like there was anything seriously. Walking through the aisles he found a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some cotton wipes. Unscrewing the bottle, he poured some onto a ball before dabbing it gently against the scratch. It burned like hell and he hissed from the pain, but there was no chance of infection now.

"Okay, so…" Going back outside seemed like a bad idea now. Riku felt a twinge of guilt as he remembered Sora, but he _wasn't_ responsible for him and if the guy was smart he would have hidden as well. He needed to get into the hospital which was _right freakin' next door_ but the damn thing was locked up now. And even if it wasn't, that would again entail going outside, and there was no way he was going to deal with that dog. "So what… there has to be some other way in and out of here."

Glancing at the back, Riku finished the energy drink before dropping the empty can on the floor and heading to the counter. Craning his head around the counter, he caught sight of exactly what he was looking for – a door. One marked 'employees only', even. With a grin he hopped over the counter.

The door was heavy, made of some sort of metal, and it opened with a groan into an empty lot. Feeling hesitant, Riku slowly edged outside. It was empty, but the streets had appeared empty, too…

With a loud 'clang' it shut. Turning, he grabbed the handle and tried to open it again, but the door had locked shut. Swearing, he bit his lower lip before turning back to the open lot. He hadn't run far from the entrance of the hospital and this was a pharmacy; it would make sense for them to be connected, or at least for there to be easy access between the two of them. "Okay, so… stop being such a _coward, _Riku. It was just one crazy-ass dog."

Nothing was in the lot except for a dumpster and an old delivery truck. At the other side, though, there was a door marked 'service entrance'. The wide doors opened easily and he stepped inside.

The inside of the hospital had a distinctly different look from the pharmacy or even the streets of Silent Hill. It was dark and smelled like decay; the paint was peeling from the walls and there was grating visible beneath the linoleum on the floor. Only one of every three lights seemed to work, roughly, and most of them were flickering on and off, threatening to burn out at any moment. "Wonderful. The dog almost seems preferable now…"

When the Brookhaven hospital had been built, the old Alchemilla hospital had been shut down and, years later, had been turned into a walk-through exhibit of one of Silent Hills supposed haunted attraction. Kairi had been all but ecstatic at the thought of touring through it and had been able to do nothing but jabber on about facts and dates for weeks before their trip. If she was going to be somewhere, _anywhere_ in this damn town, this place had to be it.

Walking carefully along the hallway, Riku groped around until he came to a door. Rattling the knob, he frowned when it didn't open, but bit his lip when the next on did. It opened into some sort of office that had the same musty, decayed look to it. The desk was covered in blackened papers and there was a spilt coffee cup, the inside filled with dust. With a sigh he turned to leave before noticing a flashlight lying on a filing cabinet by the door. It worked, though the light was a bit weak. _Better than nothing_.

The rest of the doors in this area were either broken or locked. Trying to break them down was always an option but that seemed more like a last-attempt desperate sort of act. Besides, he didn't know what was beyond those doors… maybe they were locked off from him for a _reason_.

Shining the flashlight up, Riku glanced up the stairwell. There was a noise coming from the second floor, like someone walking about above. "Kairi?" he called out. The noise stopped for a moment before suddenly starting again, becoming louder and moving toward the top of the stairwell. "Kairi, is that you? Don't worry, I'm here, I'm coming, don't worry!"

He ran up the stairs, light bouncing along the peeling walls, smiling in relief at the thought of finally finding someone he knew when the nurse appeared.

Her arms and legs were wrapped in dirty bandages but there were plenty of gaps, more than enough for Riku to see that she, like the dog, had no skin. The oozing flesh was pulsating, dripping a red slime that splattered onto the floor as she shuffled toward him. And like the dog she had no face, only a warped blanked front that jerked rapidly from side to side as she swung her arm out toward her, a knife blade barely missing his chest.

"No!" He stepped back, dodging the knife before turning about to run back down the steps. Before making it even partway down another nurse started hobbling up toward him and Riku immediately backtracked, grabbing onto the railing for support. "No, no…"

The one at the top of the steps was starting to make her way down toward him. Making a split-second decision he turned back around, smacking her hard in the face with the flashlight and shoving her to the side as he pushed past her. There was a door to his left and he ran for it, mumbling a prayer when it opened and he slipped inside.

A rusty bed frame with a half-chewed mattress was on one side with a crumbling dresser on the other. Clicking the flashlight off Riku hurried over to the bed, dropping down to his hands and knees before crawling under it. The floor was disgusting but he stifled his groan, keeping his eyes focused on the door as he waited to see if the nurses would follow him.

For a moment there was nothing but silence, then a horrible shuffling sound and loud thudding. He clenched his fist, nails digging into his palm, when the sound suddenly stopped. There was a low tapping, though, that ended outside the door, and after one heart stopping moment the door began to open.

Riku tightened his grip on the flashlight, ready to run and get the jump on whatever creepy it was when a familiar looking brunet stepped in, peering around the room. "Riku? Or, um… one of his two friends?" Sora was holding a pipe in one hand and there were some bruised smudges over a cheek and his arms, but otherwise he seemed okay.

"Sora?" Riku crawled out from under the bed, scrambling to his feet to get over to him. He smiled, relief at seeing a familiar face winning over the shock of it being him. "Sora, what are you doing here? How did you even get _in_-?"

"I jumped the fence," he said. "After you left some pretty…" Sora's expression shifted into one of uncomfortable nervousness, as if he couldn't quite bring himself to voice what he had seen. Riku nodded though, and he continued. "So I thought I should probably try to find you sooner rather than later, in case…"

"What about those…? Did you…?"

"No." He shook his head. "I found this outside. They're knocked out, I think… I mean, I can't really tell if they're breathing, but they're still kind of… twitching…"

To show him, Sora stepped back out of the room and Riku followed him. The one nurse was lying there and, like he had said, she was convulsing on the floor, arms and legs flopping up and down as she lay prone. It made him feel queasy and he turned away, looking back at Sora. "Okay. Um… so you haven't run into Kairi or Roxas then, I guess."

Sora shook his head. "No, sorry. You're the only one I've seen so far. You sure this is even the best place to be?" Riku nodded grimly.

"Trust me… if I didn't have to be in this place right now, I would be long gone."

"Okay, so, splitting up is definitely not going to be an option in this place. We're not going to pull that classic horror movie shit. Doubtful she's in any room that's broken cause-"

"How could she have gotten inside, yeah. Maybe in a locked room, assuming she was the one who locked it, but we should assume she's in an open one for now." Riku nodded. "I checked the first floor already. We should finish up here. I mean, I… I just know that this is where she would be. But I don't know where in here she _would_ be."

"Yeah, okay." Sora put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "We'll find her, don't worry. This place isn't that big, right?"


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I do not own Silent Hill nor do I own Kingdom Hearts. Konami, Disney, and Square Enix hold all copyrights.

The _idea_ behind this was something that originated with A Style All My Own, and the outline was co-written with her for a movie we were going to create. I've adapted that and expanded it into this. Multi-chaptered, though I can't tell you how long it's going to be.

Dana Wilson: Congrats on being the first reviewer! Don't worry, I'm going to continue - check back every monday for an update.

* * *

"Can you believe this place?"

Riku sighed, ignoring Sora some as he tried to sort through the mass piles of paper in what they took to be an old storage room. It was one of the few rooms that had opened on the third floor and it had been stacked full of water-stained cardboard boxes filled with old patient files. Not wanting to admit that he may be wrong about Kairi, and with nothing else to go on, they had started to rip through them looking for any interesting bit of information.

"Did you know that they once had a burn victim here that lived in a coma for seven years? She like… just vanished one day. How whacked out is that?"

"Sora." Riku put down his own file to stare at the babbling man. "I appreciate everything that you've done for me… and I really appreciate your company. But do you really need to… narrate everything you do?" Sora shrugged, putting the paperwork down on top of a closed box as he stretched up, fumbling around for one they hadn't gone through.

"No, but I guess sitting around all quiet and silent seems like a waste too. So, hey, what's the story here? Are you this chick's girlfriend, or is she dating that other guy, or are you dating the guy or what's going on? What's the relationship triangle?"

He rolled his eyes. "No one's dating anyone. Kairi's my friend, and so is Roxas. I've grown up with Roxas since as long as I can remember and I've known Kairi since I was seven or so. No romantic feelings involved between anyone."

"Huh." Sora stopped what he was doing for a moment to stare over at Riku, disbelief evident in his expression. "So you're running all over this crazy town looking for your friends? There's not even an exciting story behind it?"

"Yeah, sorry. I wish I could tell you that Kairi was really Roxas' twin sister and they had only just been reunited and that I had impregnated her except that would all just be a lie." He grinned slightly. "We're all just… friends. What about you? Why are you here?"

"I… I think I'm looking for some people too," Sora said after a moment, his expression twisting into confusion. "But, the thing is… I know that I woke _up_ and the town was all like this, and I know it wasn't like this before. And I know things, you know, about the history of this place, and just things in general, and I know that I'm missing something, but…" He looked down, hand still resting on the upper ledge of the shelving unit. "I can't remember what or who I'm looking for, only that it's important and I think I really need to find it."

Riku slowly got up, feeling incredibly uncomfortable and completely responsible for the situation that was occurring. "It's not… I mean, you'll find what you're… oh my god, what is that?"

"What's what?" Sora glanced up as Riku stepped next to him, stretching up to the tips of his toes to grope around the shelf. He had more reach and after a moment his fingers snagged on the straps of the bag he had seen. "Riku?"

"This, I saw…" He grunted when he thudded back down on his heels, the bag pulling forward and slipping off the shelf. Riku caught it easily with his other hand. "This. Maybe there's something in here?"

"Oh." Sora looked perplexed before he crouched down next to him, watching in interest as Riku fumbled with the straps to open the bag. "Guess I was too short to reach it, sorry. So what's inside…?"

Yanking it open, Riku stared. There was a bound file on top with the words 'Riku Aderas' stamped on front. He lifted it up; beneath it was a 'Kairi Gardens', followed by a 'Sora Warren' and a 'Roxas Warren'. He frowned at that. "Sora, are you related to Roxas?"

"What? No, I've never met him before."

"You guys just share the…" Riku shook his head before grabbing the file labeled Roxas and unwrapping the string binding it shut. Inside was a thick stack of papers that had a fresh appearance, meshing with the weathered look of everything else in the hospital.

With little ceremony he dumped the contents of the file onto the floor and spread them out, glancing through the. '_Subject shows extreme signs of hostility'_, '_subject has a low grasp of reality'_, '_subject insists upon the existence of an alternate 'other''_. "What the hell… what the hell is any of this?"

"Did you guys ever go see any sort of therapist?" Sora asked gingerly, reaching into the pile for his folder.

"No! Did you?"

"I'm not entirely sure I would remember if I had."

Curiosity warred with better judgment as Riku stared at his _own_ folder lying so neatly on the cement floor, but his stomach twisted at the thought of seeing whatever was written inside. Hand drifting lazily for a moment, he made a quick decision and reached into the bag for Kairi's. It was her they were looking for, after all. Maybe the file would have information on where to find her.

As Riku picked up the folder his fingers brushed along the edge of something hard and plastic beneath it. Frowning, he pulled his hand out before looking into the bottom of the bag. There, previously hidden under all the files, was a small hand-held radio. "Radio? What's with this radio…"

"Riku?" Sora glanced up from his own file to glance curiously at him as he pulled the object out. Twisting the knob on, both men blinked before clapping their hands over their ears as a splitting screech of static cut through the air. "Ah, Riku! Turn that damn thing off!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Hastily complying, the silver-haired man dropped the radio onto the empty bag, ears ringing with the sound of falling snow and crackling reception. "Damnit, should've checked for volume first… Well, at least we know it still _works_."

"Yeah, but it would be helpful if we had a second one or if we knew someone we could talk to with it," Sora pointed out, flipping his file shut. Riku craned his neck a moment, eyes glancing down to see if he could catch anything on the paper, but the brunet had it cover too fast. "I think you were right before. This room is a bust; we should be looking somewhere else. Somewhere_ else_, Riku," he said again for emphasis, and he sighed.

"Yeah, I know," he started when a loud _bzzzt_ interrupted him. Both males stared at each other, spooked and stir-crazy, and the noise cut off for a moment before starting again, louder and angrier than before. The bag, half covered with closed files and pinned down with the radio, jumped and vibrated as a blue light flashed through its fabric. "Wha-?"

He didn't wait for a third ring. Reaching inside, Riku scooped out the cellphone, nearly sobbing with relief when he stared at the familiar silver object. The screen was glowing, Kairi's name and number flashing bright as it hummed violently in his hand. "Oh thank you – Kairi? Kairi!" he said eagerly, flipping the phone open and turning away from Sora, wanting a little privacy for this conversation.

"-ku? Riku, is …at yo…?"

"Kairi?" Behind him, Sora slipped closer and placed a hand on his shoulder, eyes bright with worry. Riku shrugged it away as his hand tensed around the tiny electronic device. "Kairi, I can barely hear you; you must be in some place with bad reception."

"Ri… …re a… …u? I… …ke up …d… G… Ro… …as go… and… …ese thi…"

"Kairi." Sora had moved about, sitting in front now, and his face read nothing but concern. Riku grit his teeth, determined to ignore him, and tried to piece together what she was saying. "Kairi, I can't understand what you're _saying_. Where are you?"

"…m a… … o… hos… Hur… …ease the… ar… …ese… oh g…. no …ere… …ik… the… …omi… …hey… com… they…"

The phone suddenly fell silently, ending as the girl's voice hit a fevered pitch. Riku sat in the dark, face illuminated only by the glow from the phone, and stared blankly ahead. _Something_ was ticking in the background, an annoying chirp that was growing louder and frantic in his ear. His hand went slack, the phone clattered to the ground, and suddenly Sora was yelling in his face, hands gripping his shoulders tightly as he shook him.

"Riku, Riku, _come on_," he hissed and Riku shook his head. "Riku!"

"I know, I'm here, just…" Irritated, he slapped the younger man's hand away and shifted back. "I know."

"We should go," Sora said cautiously, hand snaking out to snag the fallen cellphone. After a moment Riku nodded, teeth digging into his bottom lip. "Come on, we've already checked and we know she's not here."

"I know." He nodded again, hands sliding along the floor to help push him up. "I know, she's somewhere else, and we wasted all this time looking for her _here_ because I was an idiot and didn't get the clue when I should have. Sora… is she okay?" Turquoise eyes looked into the brightest blue he had ever seen and the shorter man glanced down quickly, afraid to answer. "… She has to be okay."

"Come on," he said again, softer now. "She's probably just in some building, hiding in a cabinet because of those things we saw earlier. You know girls," Sora added, attempting a joke.

Brushing the back of his pants off, Riku gave him a weak smile in return before heading for the door, flashlight and broken radio tightly in hand. The files were left on the floor, the one labeled 'Riku' kicked carelessly atop of Kairi's and several papers had fallen out from the sudden abrupt movements of the two men.

'_Subject claims another world exists, connected to this one through a series of 'paths' that only certain vessels can travel. He insists upon the literal existence of 'darkness' and describes it as a being that consumes all. Subject shows great guilt over giving 'into' the darkness and is eager to atone for his 'crimes.'_

_Note to nurses: Keep him separated from R.W. He's far too willing to believe anything he's told.'_

_

* * *

_The radio started to hiss and crackle as they stepped off the landing to the first floor. Sora turned back and gave him a dirty look, causing Riku to frantically pull it from his pocket, but the hand-held device was off when he lifted it up. "… I don't know why it's doing this. It shouldn't be working at all."

"Huh." Sora gingerly took it from his hands and waved it out. The noise got louder as he pointed it down the hallway, the crackling becoming more defined as shifts and bumps. "Maybe it's responding to something?" With a shrug he started forward, led by the noises, and Riku gaped before shaking his head.

"This is what my life has been reduced to," he mumbled. "Following a crazy guy who thinks a radio is telling him where to go."

The noise reached its pitch outside of a door labeled 'basement' and the two men glanced at each other. "We were here earlier," Riku said slowly, and Sora nodded in agreement.

"It was _definitely_ locked," he said, hesitantly pushing on the door. It swung open easily, revealing a dark staircase. "… after you?"

Riku gave him a look before stepping forward, yellow flashlight beam cutting weakly through the dark. "Can you find a way to shut that thing off?" he hissed, starting down. This was like one of those scenes out of a horror movie, where the stupid blond decides to investigate on her own. Bad enough they were heading down the steps when they knew something else had to be down here – advertising their location seemed like the definition of dumb.

There was a click and sudden silence; whatever Sora had done had worked and the radio was suddenly dead quiet. The silence was equally unnerving, but now they could creep down in relative peace, the only sounds punctuating the air that of their breath and of the creaking steps. At the bottom Riku stopped suddenly, causing the younger man to stumble into him, but before he could say anything the silver-haired man held up a hand.

"Shh… look," he whispered, pointing. All the doors were shut save for one. It was cracked open slightly and white light was edging out. Shadows were visible, figures walking past the doorway, but no one seemed aware of the two males standing in the hall outside. "Come on, we should take a closer look."

"Oh, yeah, now who's the crazy guy?" Sora whispered back and Riku grinned. "Oh, why am I even still _following_ you…"

Footsteps were heard from instead along with the sound of a muffled female voice. Brow furrowing, Riku pressed his eye up to the crack to peer inside and bit down on his lip to keep from gasping out loud. Two of those nurse _things_ were shuffling about, heads twisting and bodies twitching as they groped around blindly, and strapped to an operating table was Kairi. Blood was dripping from the metal onto the floor and he spotted a scalpel in the hands of one of the twitching monsters. "Kai-!"

"Shhh!" He was yanked away and a hand was pressed up against his mouth, silencing him. Riku glared furiously at Sora, allowing the man to keep him pinned for a moment before shoving him away. "What the hell are you thinking?"

"They have Kairi, they're hurting Kairi! We have to help her!"

"And with what?" Riku blinked and blanched; they had carelessly left the pipe up in the room. "If you have a plan I'll be glad to go along with it."

"… yeah, yeah, yeah I have a plan," he said after a moment. Sora blinked up at him, eyeing him cautiously. "And my plan is to get Kairi the fuck out of there!"

The last part was not said softly, nor quietly, and from outside they both heard the shuffling footsteps halt. Sora gaped up as Riku snarled and ripped the door open, charging blindly in to stop the twisted hospital attendants. Surprise was definitely a factor on his side; they stood shock still for a moment as he smash the flashlight against the face of one, but pain seared across his ribs as the second lashed out with the tiny knife.

The stupidity of his plan was starting to sink in as Riku found himself backing up, caught between a wall and two angry, vicious, and violent monsters. A tray was next to the table with various operating tools spread across it, none large enough to be helpful. Ignoring them, he grabbed it by the base and shoved it forward, tripping the one nurse and causing her to stumble into the other. Kairi screamed something from the table, but it was unintelligible from the strap across her mouth.

Hurrying over to her, Riku fumbled with the strap over her right wrist, fingers slipping over the blood-slick leather. It took him a moment but it finally came free, allowing her to reach around and start working on her left hand while he worked on her ankles.

A hand touched his shoulder and Riku twisted around, reaching back for _something_ to attack the nurse with when the IV stand connected with the side of her face. She crumpled to the ground, revealing an irate looking Sora. "Am I _always_ going to be saving your ass?" he asked, causing Riku to grin in response.

"Well, if it works," he said, turning back to Kairi. The girl had managed to free her other wrist and was working on ripping the strap off of her mouth. Leaving the job of keeping the monsters at bay to Sora, Riku working the leather strap free of her right ankle and shifted around to finish getting her free.

As soon as she was unbound from the table the tiny red-headed bounded off, legs catching and buckling as she hit the floor. Riku caught her and winced, noticing for the first time the blood smeared over her arms and across her stomach. Like Sora and himself she was dressed oddly – a bright pink dress that barely went to her mid-thigh with three zippers running down its length. Underneath was a white camisole with a black hood attached. The entirety of the outfit was stained and ripped, crimson coloring the pink as torn flesh peeked through the fabric. They didn't have her for long, he gathered, but they were vicious with the time they had.

"Let's go," he urged, helping her out of the room and up the stairs. It was pitch-black and he stumbled, confused, before remembering that the flashlight was now lying on the floor of the operating room. It had been damn useful, but going back to get it was out of the question. "Come on, just close your eyes and careful, don't trip…"

"Riku," Kairi panted, leaning against him and groaning with pain. "Riku, we can't leave Sora behind."

"I'm sure he's-" Riku stutter-stopped, voice catching as he hauled her up the last step. She stared back at him, blue eyes wide with confusion and worry. "… but we've never met Sora before."

"What do you mean? Riku, Sora came here with us…. Riku?" She licked her lip, shrinking subconsciously away from him as he continued to stare, horror evident in his expression. "Riku, what's wrong? You, you're-"

"Come _on_!" Before the conversation could be continued a gloved hand grasped his wrist, jerking him forward. Riku glanced up, stumbling along with Kairi, and blinked when he saw Sora running, flashlight held tightly in hand. "Those things will be back and we better be gone when they get up here!"


	4. Chapter 4

AN: I do not own Silent Hill nor do I own Kingdom Hearts. Konami, Disney, and Square Enix hold all copyrights.

The _idea_ behind this was something that originated with A Style All My Own, and the outline was co-written with her for a movie we were going to create. I've adapted that and expanded it into this. Multi-chaptered, though I can't tell you how long it's going to be.

Up slightly early ( or six days late, depending on how to look at it ) because I'm lazy and don't feel like doing it tomorrow.

Ethos Soku Rockbell: Thank you for the lovely review!  


* * *

"I'm going alone."

"We're going with you."

"That… defeats the purpose of going _alone_."

"It's not safe out there!"

The circular argument had been going on ever since the three had shambled out of the hospital, panic nipping at their heels. The gate that had previously been wired off was pulled open and they had barreled through without question. Rusted grates replaced the streets and they found themselves boxed in a maze, edges lined high with razor wire and glinting eyes. Kairi was on the verge of hysterics as they clattered through, every door rattling locked and every turn exposing a new snarling monster. It was only at the very end that they discovered a door hanging off its hinges, creaking in the wind like a yawning maw.

Riku had felt nervous darting in, feeling like the unsuspecting fly walking right into the venus fly trap, but Kairi and Sora darted in without a moment's hesitation. He followed and the door shut behind them, clicking in place as Sora locked it.

_Deputy Harris is presenting a free informational session on motorcycle safety this Friday at 2 pm. Anyone_ _looking to get their license or anyone who already has one is recommend to come and learn a few tips to get safe on the road!_

He snorted and dropped the flyer, feeling that it was oddly ironic that they were hiding in an abandoned police station. At least… Riku _hoped_ it was abandoned. Dust was layered over the chairs and the counter, indicating that no one had been here for quite a while, but there were smudges on the floor where something might have been shuffling along. One of the dogs, perhaps?

Which was where the conversation had started. "One of us needs to go and get help," he started and Kairi glanced up at him, blue eyes wide and nervous. She had slumped back in one of the plastic chairs, shifting to get comfortable, and Sora had disappeared to try to find a first-aid kit to bandage up the wound on her stomach. "If we stay here too long something bad, _really_ bad, is going to wind up happening to all of us and then we're never going to get out of here."

She nodded and he smiled, thinking _okay, this is great,_ but as Sora started back to the lobby Kairi suddenly shook her head. "You can't go off by yourself," she argued, moving again and wincing as she accidentally caused the gash to pull open. "We still don't know where Roxas is-"

"Exactly!" Riku cut her off, throwing his hands up in the air, and Sora cut between them to kneel in front of Kairi. Placing a plastic kit on the floor, he flipped it open and began to take out a brown bottle filled with hydrogen peroxide, some cotton swabs, and a roll of gauze with medical tape. "He's out there all alone and lost. Someone needs to find him and the only way we're going to do _that_ is if we go out there and get some help. You think we should just stay in here where we're safe and let him stay out there on his own?"

"No, I don't. I- ah!" It wasn't so much a shout as a sudden gasp from pain. Kairi curled back, arms dropping down to cover her stomach, as Sora tried to dab some of the antiseptic solution on the wound. The end result was his hand getting pinned between her arm and her side as she pulled away, mouth contorted in a grimace. "That _hurts_!"

"But you're going to wind up with an infection if I don't take care of it," he retorted, using his other hand to force her hands up. "It'll stop burning when all the infection is gone and then, when it scabs over, nothing bad will wind up trapped in the wound."

"See?" Riku said, jabbing his finger toward the girl while she recoiled and sulked in the chair. "This is why you're _staying_ and I'm _going_. There isn't any room for discussion, Kairi. You're not in any shape to be out there where all… things are."

She glared back at him, teeth set on edge as she mulled over a retort, but before Kairi could work her mind around something suitably scathing Sora interjected. "I could always go with Riku," he said mildly, dabbing at her wound again before tearing off a section of gauze and holding it to the wound. Keeping one hand pressed there he deftly picked up the medical tape with the other, using his teeth to tear off strips to tap it down.

Riku gaped as Kairi smirked. "Yeah Riku, Sora could go with you," she said, the barest hint of a sneer highlighting her features.  
"A… and if he does, you'll be left here all alone!" Riku protested. "Remember the last time that happened, you being by yourself? I seem to recall that it did not go well. Is that really what you want to repeat?"

"We're inside a police station and we can lock the door. What exactly are you expecting to happen to me in here?"

"We can lock the door only because it was _unlocked_ when we got here," Riku said, feeling the sensation of frustration growing inside of him. It wasn't that Kairi was _trying_ to be irritating – oh, no, she never needed to work at _that_ – but it was just that she was so damn _stubborn_. Always one of the boys, always just as good as them. Ever since Sora had decided to leave her back on the islands instead of-

He froze, hands pressed to the side of his head as the thought rewound and backtracked in his mind. Kairi stared at him curiously, head tilting to the side as Riku turned away slightly. Ever since _who_ left her on the islands? Roxas, _Roxas_ had left her there after he found her… she had been part of him. He, Riku, had found her body floating through the darkness, but Roxas had been keeping her heart safe.

"Riku?" He shook his head.

"Kairi, I'm going by myself." Annoyance flashed over her expression and she leaned forward, held back in her chair only by Sora's hand, but Riku barely batted an eye in response. "I'm sorry, but you're just going to be too much of a liability out there hurt like that and I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone. I need Sora to watch over you which means I need to do this alone. If there was any other way…"

"There's always another way," she mumbled and Sora sighed as he started packing the medical supplies away.

"Yeah, probably, but Riku has some good reasoning," he said. Twisting about, Sora smiled up at him and Riku returned the expression reluctantly. "Here, I picked this up before we left that room." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the small cellphone and handed it to the silver-haired man. "Do you still have yours, Kairi?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah…" Glancing down, she slid her legs around to unsnap the black bag that was attached to her side. Inside was the phone, the cover scratched, and behind it Riku could make out the edges of a folded slip of paper. "The battery's pretty low so it's off right now and I don't want to leave it on all the time but I guess we could try turning it on every hour and calling each other."

Riku nodded. "So now you don't have to worry about the invisible fog monster getting me," he teased. She rolled her eyes, going to close the bag, and he pointed. "What's on the paper?"

"Huh?" Kairi's fingers curled around the underside of the bag, eyes glancing in before her brows slowly knit together. Sora shifted and pulled himself up into the chair next to her and Riku stepped closer as she pulled it out. "Feels like a photograph…"

She unfolded it and Riku felt sick. They were standing together, arms slung around each other's shoulders, Riku still clad in the maroon gown of his graduating class, and Kairi was flashing a peace sign while grinning ear-to-ear. _Graduation_. Roxas was supposed to be there, Roxas was supposed to be in the middle-

He snatched it from her, fingers digging into the glossy surface. "Hey!" Kairi cried out, reaching to take it back from him. "Didn't your mother teach you manners?"

"… this picture is wrong," Riku mumbled, flipping it over to examine the back. In tiny red letters ( was it blood? ) the words '_What happened three years ago?_' were written, the question mark dripping down the length of the photo. "This isn't… Roxas was there Kairi. He, here, hold on."

Shoving the picture back into her waiting hands he fumbled with his own pockets. Kairi and Sora exchanged a look as he pulled out the map and the photograph that had been lying on the table earlier. "See, this is…"

"… a blank picture." Sora finished. Riku could only stare dumbly at the white image glaring mockingly back at him. "And that's supposed to…?"

"No… Sora, I showed this to you earlier. Remember? You asked me what, you, it was so you would know what they looked like."

Sora and Kairi both laughed as Riku felt like someone had just ripped the ground out from under him. "Why would I need to know what they look like, Riku?" the brunet asked inquisitively. "I grew up on the Islands too."

* * *

The streets were a constant shifting beast, a world wrapped in a cocoon of fog. Along the fringes he could make out where the illusion flickered and faded, blood-rusted iron yawning and baring fangs of wire and decay. Beasts flicked in and out; faceless towering monstrosities that left a trail of quaking earth turned into naked, faceless monsters that darted just behind his feet to nip at his heels.

It wasn't just the streets. It was the entire goddamned _world_ that was shifting around him, and Riku no longer knew where to turn to find a handhold. His memories no longer matched with reality and he would believe that, he would _accept _that, only it was changing every moment. Fear had driven him out of the station, the same fear that made him wonder if they would even know who he was when he returned.

Silent Hill. Was he being replaced by another here? Was he not _worthy_ enough to bear the mantle of 'Keyblade Warrior' now? The darkness had stained his soul and even the King couldn't scrub him clean. Maybe the worlds had decided that he was a lost cause and a simple _rewrite_ would be for the best.

"No Riku."

It wasn't the voice that caused him to pause. No, hearing someone speak out his name made him want to bolt and run and hide in the nearest open building. What forced him to take a moment and take stock was that the entire scene _shifted_, fog and concrete replaced by green grass and blue skies. Birds were chirping in the backyard and a light breeze blew through the field, causing the waves of grass to bend and twist.

There was no heat from the sun and the air was haze-rippled, a product of a bad dream.

He turned about slowly, the grass rustling beneath his feet, and stared at the speaker. It was the blond-haired girl, the white dress glowing painfully in the strange light. She smiled and stepped closer, head tilting to the side. "No Riku," she said again, and he bit his lower lip. Her voice, he knew he had heard it before, but from _where…_?

"Who… who are you? And what's going on here, what's with this town?" Riku demanded, stepping closer. "I just want to find my friend and go home. Why is everything getting so messed up?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, voice so low he had to strain to hear her. "This is all my fault. If I had been… this never would have happened. I should never have _listened_ to him."

"Listened to _who_?" The girl glanced down, blue eyes ripe with sorrow, and for a moment Riku wondered what had happened to all the other colors of the rainbow. He was the odd-man out, turquoise and green tinted instead of the brilliant sky shades that everyone else seemed to share. "Look, I can't do anything, I can't make this better if I don't understand what's going on."

She glanced up and something flashed, steel-grey imposed over the sunshine-green, and old blood stained the front of the brilliant dress. "What happened three years ago, Riku?" she asked and he bit his lip, watching as she weaved in and out of the dream atmosphere.

"I saved Kingdom Hearts! I… I gave into the darkness, I was cleansed by the King, I destroyed Xemnas and I did it with Roxas!" he shouted. "I dragged Roxas through the portal that…"

Now he faltered and she smiled, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. "What happened, Riku?" she asked again, gently prodding as his mind ran over the events the led to their return to the Islands.

Kairi's letter. Kairi's letter was a _gateway_ and they used it to go back home. And they were on another island, one hidden in the shadows, and they got their through a portal-

Who made it? He didn't. Someone… memories, images of sounds and colors, were fluttering against his mind and he winced, the tell-tale hammer of a headache starting to pound in his temples. "I don't understand," he hissed, one hand pressed to his forehead as he glared at the demure girl. "We destroyed the Organization. We got home. Why does what happened matter anymore?"

"Because I need you to remember." The blue frizzled into ash around her, red-hot embers nibbling at the edges of the sky that was crumbling to pitch-black behind her. Riku swallowed hard, fear shivering down his spine, and for a moment he swore he saw hell gleaming in her eyes.

"Because," she tried again, voice even and tempered as the sky brightened. "Because you need to understand what's happened. This punishment isn't meant for you."

"Punishment?" The word trembled on his lips as a horrifying realization began to creep up on him. She nodded slowly and he shook his head, taking a step back from her. The surreal glow that surrounded her, hair, dress and skin, made her shimmer and slip out of form as she smiled ever so nicely. "No. No one's done anything wrong. Just let us leave, let _all_ of us leave."

"You need to remember," she said again and the image skipped back to the girl in the white dress. She stepped forward slowly, a slip of paper folded between two fingers as she stretched her hand out toward him. "If you don't remember then nothing will change."

A threat or a promise. Either way, Riku hesitantly took the paper, knowing all-too-well what he was going to see folded up inside. As he pressed it open, fingers rubbing against the creases, the world reverberated and howled as it melted down, foggy streets and rusty fences replacing the sunshine and the fields.

It was a picture. It was _the_ picture, in fact – he knew that if he checked the black photo would be gone from his pocket. He was standing there, smiling, with Sora in the middle and Kairi on his other side. Graduation day again and there was no sign of…

No sign of…

…

_Roxas_.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I do not own Silent Hill nor do I own Kingdom Hearts. Konami, Disney, and Square Enix hold all copyrights.

The idea behind this was something that originated with AStyleAllMyOwn, and the outline was co-written with her for a movie we were going to create. I've adapted that and expanded it into this. Multi-chaptered, though I can't tell you how long it's going to be.

konami-fanman: Thank you for the lovely review. I apologize for how late this is. I would like to be able to say that it won't be long before the next chapter is out – I really want to finish this! – but I'm afraid of making promises I don't keep.

* * *

Matheson and Levin. It was where everything had started – the dream, the blackout, his first encounter with Sora – and yet it felt incredibly surreal to be back at the homey bed-and-breakfast.

Gazing up at the picture-perfect house, Riku could feel himself slowly step forward as he walked toward the front steps. It was as if someone had taken a slice of world, cut deftly along the edges of property, and had planted down a swatch of normality inside the hell that was the rest of Silent Hill. Rusty grates turned to unmarred road, only to shift back again once the boundary was past. Rotted trees and barren land sudden became a lush green lawn, dotted with bright yellow and white flowers.

The houses on either side were gutted and burned, charred walls reaching up toward the sky like skeletal fingers groping for the sun. Wedged in between was the white-washed home with their car still parked in the driveway.

Riku walked up to it and pressed his hands against the driver's side door. There was nothing strange inside, though when he tried to pull the door open it wouldn't give. Not that getting inside would have been much help; the tires had been slashed, leaving the vehicle resting on the bent rims.

_So much for an easy way out of here,_ he thought with a sigh. He wasn't sure where he would have gone, or what help the car would have been – the roads would never have held its weight and nevermind the fact that he didn't have the keys – but the thought of being able to drive away would have been incredibly comforting.

_Inside. Inside. I have to go inside._ Straightening, the silver-haired man glanced over at the front door of the house, fear and anxiety knotting his stomach. It was open, waving ever so slightly from a breeze he couldn't feel. _That's where it all began… that's where it'll all end._

The picture that the strange girl had given him was tucked safely inside his pocket, but he could still see the message that had been scrawled in hasty writing on its back. Written in the same red ink ( blood? ) as the previous one, all it said was _Where did it all start?_.

That was a good question, though a better one was 'what was _it_?' The nightmare that he was currently living in, the twisted world that Silent Hill had become… or the events of three years ago when Kingdom Hearts had first been threatened by the heartless? Both were events of interest, to him and to those who seemed to be keeping him here.

Heading back to the Islands didn't seem exactly possible at the moment, though. That left the house, as reluctant as he was to enter it.

Bracing himself, Riku took a deep breath before gently pushing in the already-open door. It swung easily and silently, revealing the dark interior. The floor, stones squares of various sizes in varying shades of green and red, had a slightly faded look to it and, with one step, he realized it was dust. The lights wouldn't turn on when he flicked the lights and he sighed – _no lights. No electricity either, most likely._

_Lovely._

Pressing the button on the top of the flashlight, Riku slowly scanned it across the room to see what he was dealing with. Other than the dust and the feeling that no one had actually been in this building for quite some time now, nothing seemed to have changed from when they first checked in. The same horrifically ugly painting of a vase with a purple flower was still hanging on the wall, the same kitschy knick-knacks were lined up along the mantel in the den, and the same corny cornflower-patterned dishes were on the table.

_Start back at the beginning…_ Nodding doubtfully, Riku glanced at the stairs before heading toward them. The hallway above loomed ominously, a dark and gaping mouth that leered threatening at him, but he had no choice. Steeling himself, he gripped the rail tightly as slowly ascended.

All the doors were shut and, as he quickly found out, locked. Rattling the knob to his room in frustration, Riku thumped his fist against the wooden door before sighing. "God… freakin'…"

He trailed off as he glanced to the side. Light was peeking out from under one of the doors, the door to Roxas' room. "The beginning," the silver-haired man murmured before stepping over to it. Gingerly touching it, the door swung open before he even had a chance to try the knob and a brilliant white light poured out. Lifting a hand up to cover his eyes, he narrowed them as he was slowly blinded and swallowed up whole.

It faded after a moment and he lowered his hand, feeling bewildered. Through the doorway was a beach, clear blue water lapping at the crystalline sand. Several white wisps graced the sky, the only mar to an otherwise beautiful day. In the background he could hear the caw of some lazily floating seagulls and the rustling of the leaves of several palm trees.

_Home_. He reached out, feeling the breeze tickle his palm and the warmth play over the back of his hand. "This is real," he said, amazement evident in his tone. "This is… this is real…"

The beach was beckoning through the open door and after a moment Riku stepped through. It spread out before him and, as he turned around, the door shimmered and disappeared, leaving him stranded on the beach. "No, no," he said, stepping back clumsily over the sand – as peaceful as the place seemed he knew that there was some catch waiting around the corner. "No, please, come back. I don't want to be stuck here."

There was a crackle, a ripple, and he hesitantly twisted about to look. There were three figures on the beach, shifting and waving in the light. As he stepped closer he could see that they were only half there, see-through images with pieces missing as they laughed and talked.

Silver hair, red hair, blond hair… _"And you're just as lazy as he is!"_

"_Heh. So you noticed."_

The girl laughed and leaned back, arms clasped behind her back before she leaned forward and clapped her hands together. The boy with silver hair ( was that him? Had he ever looked like _that_? ) looked at her with an expression of distrust with a hint of boredom as she added: _"Okay, we'll finish it together! I'll race you."_

"_Huh?" _It was the blond who spoke but as Riku stopped next to him he knew the voice didn't match with his face. The boy sitting up, staring off in confusion, was so familiar, but the voice… that was Sora.

And the girl was Kairi. And the other…

He faded in and out, disappearing for a moment before snapping back in place, brown hair and all. The blond was gone and none of them notice.

The entire room sudden shifted. Blue skies and sandy beaches were replaced with stark and silver, towering walls shooting up around him as the sand melted into the cold, hard floor. A balcony slowly grew out, the railing curling up under the red-head's hand. She smiled, relieved, as the brown-haired boy approached the man in the black cloak, hesitantly picking up his hand.

"… _Riku?" _The man in black flinched away but the brunet clung tightly, his expression crumbling as he collapsed to his knees. _"R-riku… I thought… I looked for you __**everywhere**__..._"

"I don't understand," Riku murmured, taking a stumbling step back as realization began to set in. Sora, Sora was…

Before the thought could fully form everything vanished again, leaving him alone in the empty bedroom. There was no sign that Roxas, no sign that anyone had ever been in the room save for a single slip of paper, folded neatly in half. He stared for a moment before stepping toward it and hesitantly picking it up.

_Do you remember yet?_

Scowling, he crumpled the paper before tossing it on the floor. The door creaked ominously behind him when the paper bounced on the ground and he glanced back, watching as it weaved back and forth before suddenly starting to slam shut. "No, no-!"

Rushing forward, Riku forced his arm out to stop the door from shutting. It slammed down on his arm and he winced, feeling the rough wood dig in right below his elbow. Ignoring the pain he grit his teeth and flexed, slowly pulling his arm back and forcing the door to open inch by inch to get enough room to wedge himself through. Foot jammed to keep it from slamming shut, he slowly weaseled out.

The moment he was in the hall it pulled out of his grasp, shutting with a loud 'bang'. Turning quickly Riku grabbed the handle, twisting and pulling, but the door was stuck fast. Frustrated, he gave it a solid kick, cursing under his breath. "Great. Now what am I supposed to do…"

The house creaked and sighed around him as the silver-haired man glanced up nervously. There was a heavy pause as everything seemed to settle for a moment, but just as he was turning to start back down the stairs a horrendous shriek ripped through the air. Trembling and shaking for a moment, the walls at the end of the hall suddenly collapsed, charcoaled remains standing before. Frozen in fear, Riku found himself unable to run as a cloud of ash and dust rolled toward him, ripping the plaster from the remaining walls and the carpet from the floor as it barreled down at him.

Raising his arms to protect his face, the man braced himself for a wave of heat or for the choking air as the cloud passed over him. For a moment he felt he could barely breathe as the air scorched his face, but it passed immediately and he lowered his arms, blinking slowly in confusion.

The air was crystal clear now, though the destruction had run a path through the entirety of the house. Sunlight was peeking through slates in the ceiling that hadn't been there before, slates that had been formed by the roof caving in. The light danced down, highlighting the stark black-and-white palette the house now had, and after a moment of staring blankly at the suddenly-transformed environment it hit him.

A fire. The house had been burned down, everything that was left now barely standing.

Stepping carefully, Riku winced as the fire-licked boards beneath his feet whined from his weight, bowing down as he crept back to the stairs. Fresh ash rubbed off the walls onto his fingers as he trailed a hand along it, using it as a brace. "What the hell…" He stared down the steps from the top, feeling his stomach clench at the thought of walking down the now-rickety wood. "What… there was a fire here. But there's no way…" _I was here when it happened._

Surreal was no longer a word that would describe the situation; Riku no longer felt grounded in anything resembling reality. Normalcy implanted in the middle of a nightmare, a room that opened a window into his past, a house that crumbled before his eyes – there was no possible rational explanation besides that he was, or had, lost his mind. _Or that this is all just one long nightmare. Maybe I never actually woke up this morning, or maybe when I fell and hit my head-_

White noise erupted from a room below, the sound of static blaring on what had to be a TV, and Riku jumped in surprise. Extra weight now held on one leg, his right foot broke through the rotted step and his left knee gave out, leaving him half-crouched and suspended with one leg dangling. "Ah, ff…" Hissing from the pain, he inhaled deep before pushing off hard to pull out.

The wood surrounding his leg tore at the cloth and ripped into his thigh as Riku lost his balance and fell heavily down the remaining steps, landing in a heap at the bottom after crashing against the wall.

Pain was all he could process for a moment; blood was starting to seep out of the wound on his leg, soaking into his jeans as it trickled down his leg. Spreading out from the throbbing center point of his thigh was the ache from thumping down the steps, bumping and banging before being stopped by the wall, and the final touches were the faint but steady burns from the scalpel wound and the dog bite. All the wounds, all gained while wandering through the town…

"Are you okay?"

He squeezed his eyes shut, holding onto the darkness for a moment longer – if he couldn't _see_ it it couldn't see _him._

"I think he's starting to come to…"

"Call the ambulance anyway. He hit his head hard when he fell; you don't know what happened."

Just because it was their voices.

Whose voices? Kairi, Roxas – Sora?

"You always worry too much, Kairi."

"Better to worry then to let him suffer from brain damage."

"Think we'd even notice the difference?"

He couldn't hold onto the darkness anymore and Riku's eyes slid open. Yellow light filtered in and he stared out blearing, taking in the sight of the patterned floor ( linoleum, black and white, and diamond patterned ) and of two pairs of shoes. One set was white and the other black, matching the floor perfectly, and as the silver-haired man twisted his head around he found himself staring up at twin sets of blue eyes.

"Riku, are you okay?" Placing the phone down next to him, Kairi knelt on the ground beside him as the second figure stepped away, moving to grab a dustpan to clear away the broken shards of glass that were only inches from his head. "You fell hard and blacked out for a few minutes. You can move everything and you know who were are and who you are and all of that, right?"

"Are you holding up three fingers?" he joked, and she grinned.

"Very funny." Gripping his forearm, the redhead helped him into a sitting position. Riku groaned, placing a hand against his forehead; there was a sizeable lump growing under his palm that was throbbing with his heartbeat. "You should probably take some Tylenol and get some ice on that and lay down. A pretty crappy way to spend your vacation but… a break's still a break, right?"

"Believe me Kairi, this… is better than what I could hope for." He chuckled lowly as he stood, legs wobbling for a moment as he gathered his bearings. Stumbling, Riku caught himself mid-step and glanced down – the strange two-toned jeans had been replaced with the well-worn pair he had put on this morning, along with the same orange shirt. _Everything… everything's the same…_

Kairi placed a hand on his back to help him keep his balance, worry written on her expression, but he just grinned in response. "I had the most… twisted nightmare while I was out." Shuffling toward the stairs, Riku continued. "I… Silent Hill was this… weird ghost town. But not even that… it was filled with monsters. And we were…" He laughed, stopping at the foot to rest a hand on the railing. "There was this girl in white that kept on following me around. She was telling me to remember what happened three years ago, and… you and… and…"

"And who, Riku?"

For a moment he froze at the sound of her voice before closing his eyes. Riku could see her clearly, blond hair curling ever so neatly about pale as the red stain grew larger over her abdomen. _No, please… I was so close…_ "I… I'm here. I'm home. Does it matter who?"

"Riku." Her tone was laced with sorrow and he bit back a sob, bit back a scream – _it was supposed to have been just a terrible dream._ "What happened three years ago?"

Something was crumbling and rendering around him and against his will Riku cracked his eyes open. He gasped, widened them, as the world ripped itself apart, walls and floors rapidly decaying and peeling away to reveal the rotted interior beneath. Even the clothing that he wore was torn apart, orange fading into yellow and black as fresh blood oozed back out, the wounds re-opening.

"No… no… damnit, no!"

_I was there… Everything was done, everything was back to normal – damnit, no, this isn't fair!_

Riku collapsed to his knees and slammed his fists to the ground, teeth grit hard as he seethed in anger. What happened three years ago and, more importantly, did he care? If he found out would anything change, would anything go back to how it was before, or was that just the carrot that was being dangled? The girl, the girl in white – she was familiar, so god_damned_ familiar – but she was lost on the fringes of his mind just like Roxas and just like Sora. Was she from three years ago too? Was _he_ from three years ago? Did he come into _their_ lives?

Is that what happened?

The sudden thought unnerved him and he shook his head, aware again of the static of the blaring TV. Mirroring his earlier actions he climbed unsteadily to his feet, wincing from the gash in his thigh as he started to limp toward the noise. It was coming from the den – or was what left of the den. No electricity, at least there hadn't been any before, but Riku was beyond the point of expecting coherency and something as simple as the basic laws of conservation to apply anymore. Who was to even say that going into the next room would lead into a part of the same _house_?

Everything was dark except for the flickering and blaring TV. It was showing nothing but snow and even that was hard to make out with the layer of dust covering the screen. The rest of the room was empty safe for a single couch positioned in front of the TV, but it was missing the cushions and the clothing had be chewed off, leaving hardly anything more than a skeletal frame behind.

Walking carefully up to the TV, Riku knelt down and wiped the screen off, allowing the light to shine out at its full intensity. Squinting a moment, he starting to rotate the dial in the upper right hand corner, watching and hoping for _something_ with each click. Static, static, static-

"-Haha, Kairi, what are you-? Put the camera down!" The brunet laughed and lifted up his hand, trying to grab at the camera that was recording his image. He missed and shook his head, crossing his arms. "What are you expecting me to do? Riku would be better for this. … you already got him? He's going to be so pissed at you. The last thing we need are memories for later. I think we're going to remember this. … okay, um… hi, I'm… going to be graduating soon and… hurrah?" He shrugged. "I skipped a year because I am that good and I just want to say that… Tidus, Wakka, you two were some of the most useless friends a guy could ever have so thanks. I appreciated that. And Selphie, you're brain dead and that's refreshing, it's nice to know someone you're always going to be smarter then. Um, you're not going to see this and even if you do… Riku and I are going to off college and we're going to be long gone. See ya!" The image tilted down and started to shake as a female voice started to laugh.

After several seconds the image looped back on repeat, the jean-clad leg of the female jerking back and forth as the laugh churned to a pitched frenzy before the TV blinked off. Left alone in the darkness, Riku stared at the now-blank screen for several more seconds before nodding and turning; it all made sense now.

He knew what happened three years ago.


End file.
